Wayne’s dad found dead near home

The search for 81-year-old Ray Kublalsingh ended yester­day with the discovery of his body near the family home in Claxton Bay.

Kublalsingh, the father of environmental activist Dr Wayne Kublalsingh, went mis­sing on Tuesday morning. His body was found by a search party of neighbours, friends and relatives.

The discovery was

made around 2 p.m. by a neighbour, Ram-esh Henry Outar, who with other neighbours

and rel­a­tives had gone in search of the elder­ly man on land near his home in Kowlessarsingh Trace, Union Village.

At that time, Dr Wayne Kub­lalsingh, the leader of the Highway Re-Route Movement (HRM), was at the Hall of Justice, Port of Spain, as litigation contin­ued into the HRM’s fight against the State over the construction of the Point Fortin highway extension.

At the family home yesterday, Ray Kublalsingh’s wife, Vilma, 77, sat underneath a white tent, surrounded by her children, relatives and friends. The couple had been married

for 57 years, had eight

children and 12 grand­-

children.

Their daughter, Ju­dy Kublalsingh, an

attorney, said the

family had been opti­mistic Kub­lalsingh would return alive.

“ We didn’t think he was out there, somehow because of all the searches with helicop­ters, tracker dogs and everything. But there were just two little areas of concern to go back and check.

“Just about two hours ago, we got a call that people found him in the grass, just lying flat. We really don’t know much; there’s gonna have to be an autopsy,” she said.

“He never went far from the beaten track and we never expected him to go far. I don’t know that led him there. We have played it out in our minds a hundred times. I am just waiting on that autopsy report,” she said.

She added: “He was found somewhere almost out onto the highway. We tried to make it out there but we were advised not to. We are not sure if he walked out to that area, and he may have tried to make

it out to the highway. He is strong, he could have done it but maybe exhaustion got the better of him at that point.

“We don’t know if there was foul play involved. We are all heartbroken. We were hoping for a happy outcome that he would come back and tell us a funny story,” said the daughter.

On Thursday, the Anti-Kid­napping Unit (AKU) had joined in the search, which included police officers, soldiers, friends and relatives, with aerial support using police helicopters.